Manni Edwards credits his journey to preserving the wisdom of his elders to an encounter with goondoi 40 years ago. At the age of 8, Edwards says, he saw up to 14 colorful goondoi, or southern cassowaries (Casuarius casuarius) moving together in herds, socializing and breeding across the vast wetlands of the cassowary coast in Dyirribarra Bagirbarra Country, what is today the far north of Australia’s Queensland state. But over the years, these sights have become rare. Along with the bird’s declining numbers, traditional knowledge and the cultural significance of cassowaries have diminished among the young. Also fondly known as a “rainforest gardener” for spreading the seeds of the fruits that it eats, the southern cassowary is listed as endangered in Australia, with only 4,400 left in the wild in the wet tropics region there. (Much larger populations of the bird are found in Indonesia and Papua New Guinea, and the species’ global conservation status is least concern.) “Spotting them in herds to now only one single female, or three to four males over a distance of about 55 acres [22 hectares] of land, is different now,” Edwards says. “There is a quick change of knowledge. Some experts now even view cassowaries as solitary beings, but we [Dyibal people] have known them to be social animals for generations.” To stop the ongoing loss of knowledge and culture, local leaders bought part of their ancestral land from the state in 1982. They then created a conservation area where the young act…This article was originally published on Mongabay
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